All News

August 03, 2004

And What's Next?

A teardown Sunday morning revealed why Bruce Bohannon fell short
of his planned US absolute piston altitude record -- and the
entire, disappointed crew breathed a sigh of relief. It was a
broken, formed bracket, that prevented the wastegate from closing
fully and the engine from developing full power in the rarefied air
near Bohannon's 50,000 foot objective.

Cory Bird achieved his goal of building an aircraft accurate to
1/1000 of an inch last year. He flew "Symmetry" to the AirVenture
airshow in Oshkosh (WI) where it has become one of the highlights
of the show.

By ANN Contributor Aleta Vinas
Sean D. Tucker is one of 25 living legends of flight according
to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. If you've seen any of
Tucker's performances, you'll agree. Billed as "Industrial Strength
Aerobatics", Tucker's been pushing the envelope for over 20,000
hours. That's more than two years of 24/7 flying, if you choose to
do it all at once.

Victims Still Being Identified

Perhaps He Should Have Taken A Language Tape Course
Instead

It looked to passengers for all the world like a suicide note in
the making. A 60-year old Japanese man aboard United 1184 from
Chicago O'Hare to Columbus (OH) was seen scribbling the words
"suicide bomb" on a piece of paper just before take-off.

A bird strike caused an F-15E Strike Eagle's engine to fail,
forcing the crew to eject during a training mission May 6 near
Callaway, Va., according to Air Force investigators. The pilot and
weapons system officer ejected safely and were not injured.

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Mercury Probe Launch Rescheduled For Tuesday

(Watch this space, as they say. ANN will provide updated
information on the launch of Messenger throughout the day on
Tuesday --ed.)
The launch of NASA’s Messenger spacecraft aboard a Boeing
Delta II rocket was postponed Monday morning due to lightning
potential from residual clouds associated with Tropical Storm
Alex. The launch has been rescheduled for Tuesday, August 3
at 2:15:56 a.m. EDT at the opening of a 12-second launch window.
The weather forecast calls for a 30% chance of not meeting the
launch weather criteria.

United's Could Be First

Aviation and economic experts are fast becoming worried that the
federal savings and loan bailout of the 1980s could soon be
overshadowed by another, even bigger financial scandal. America's
pension plans are in trouble and it could cost We the People
billions to bail them out. Chief among them are the pension plans
run by major airlines.

NASA's Very First Aircraft

By ANN Correspondent Kevin O'Brien
Many aviation buffs know that NASA, the National Aeronautics and
Space Administration, started as the National Advisory Committee
for Aeronautics (NACA). I bet you knew that.
But did you know what NACA's first plane was? Or that it is still
flying today? Read on, space cadets, and you'll learn what I just
did. The really cool thing is that Greg Herrick, the man that had
the plane restored, didn't learn about it's NACA history until his
restoration was done!

All The Way From Wash to Osh

A lot of us come to EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh (WI) in long,
silver tubes with United, US Airways or some other such commercial
logo on the tail. Others come in four-wheeled, ground-bound
vehicles across interstates. The luckiest ones fly their own little
airplanes. But only a very few get to arrive in swinging lawn
chairs suspended by butterfly-like wings in that "Great Ocean of
Air."

"It appears to be unintentional user error."
Source: Jeff Baum, spokesman for computer company
EDS, which noticed a couple of big glitches in the flight
operations systems of both American and US Airways on Sunday. The
computers were taken offline for about two hours, forcing flights
for both airlines to stay at gates nationwide.